3- It is narrated in Tanbih al-Khawatir: ‘While Jesus son of Mary (AS) was sitting, he saw a man working the land with a shovel. Jesus (AS) said, ‘O Allah, take his expectation away from him!’ The man put his shovel down and rested on the ground for an hour. Then Jesus (AS) said, ‘O Allah, give him back his expectation!’ The man stood up and returned to work.’
[Tanbih al-Khawatir, v. 1, p. 272]

7- Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Guard yourselves against false expectation, for many a person who begins the day does not live to see its end, and many a one is envied at the beginning of the night while his mourners have assembled by the end of it.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 2572]

14- Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘How many a favor Allah grants His servant without his having expected them, and how many a hopeful one entertains high hopes when
[Allah’s] choice favours others.’
[Ibid. v. 71, p. 152, no. 55]

15- It has been narrated that the Prophet (SAWA) took three sticks and set one of them in front of him, another one next to it, and the third far away from the two. He then asked, ‘Do you know what this is?’ to which they replied, ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said, ‘This one is man, and this is death
[next to it], while that one is expectation, which man entertains
[about his long life], but death falls upon him prior to his expectation.’
[Tanbih al-Khawatir, v. 1, p. 272]

20- Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Indeed you are in the days of expectation that is followed by death. So he who works in the days of his expectation before death arrives will benefit from his work and will not be hurt by death.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 77, p. 333, no. 21]

ثَمَراتُ طولِ الأملِ / The Results of High Expectations

22- It is narrated in al-KÁfÐ: Part of what Allah, the Exalted, told Prophet Moses (AS): ‘O Moses! Do not extend your expectation in this world’s life lest your heart become hard, for the hard-hearted is far from Me.’
[al-Kafi, v. 2, p. 329, no. 1]

25- The Prophet (SAWA) told Ibn Masoud, ‘Lower your expectation such that when you wake up in the morning, you say, ‘I will not see the night’ and when you go to sleep at night, you say, ‘I will not see the morning.’ And be prepared to depart from this life and yearn to meet Allah.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 77, p. 101, no. 1]

26- Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘A man who is sure about leaving his loved ones, dwelling under the earth, facing the final Account, and that he will be needless of what he leaves behind, and needy of what he has sent forth
[for the Hereafter] deserves to shorten his expectation and lengthen his action.’
[Ibid. v. 73, p. 167, no. 31]

28- The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘Allah, Mighty and Exalted says, ‘I will cut off the expectation of every believer who places it in someone other than Me
[and replace it] with despair.’
[Sahifat al-Imam al-Ridha(AS), p. 276, no. 20]